As if his broad over-acting weren't enough, he also saw fit to record an album of spoken-word readings of poetry and pop-song lyrics called The Transformed Man that has to be heard to be believed. His renditions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" are particularly legendary and inspired the Golden Throats compilations of bad celebrity music recordings. An equally jaw-dropping video rendition of "Rocket Man" became a favorite bit of nonsense that was re-created years later by Chris Elliott on Late Night With David Letterman and Stewie on Family Guy. Lesser-known is his cover of Harry Chapin's "Taxi" on The Dinah Shore Show circa 1973 (and yes, that's a timecode).

An ego the size of his native Canada also did not help his reputation among his co-stars. Details vary, but he has said that he was unaware of how arrogant he was on set. Leonard Nimoy helped him understand that just being nice to them personally doesn't mean that they respected him trying to take away what little screen time they had, and most of the other cast have in the past expressed dissatisfaction with what Walter Koenig referred to as "them and us," "them" being Shatner, Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley, "us" being Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and James Doohan. His most famous spat was with Doohan, who was one of the most distinguished character actors before his role on Star Trek; Doohan once famously said "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill." He outright refused an interview with Shatner during the writing of Star Trek Memories, but showing genuine regret for alienating the cast allowed the two to reconcile before Doohan was incapacitated by Alzheimer's Disease. Memories also allowed Shatner to settle affairs with Nichols, with Nichols shocking him by telling him "how much I despise you," though after his willingness to listen to her critiques and offering his sincere apologies, they reconciled and have remained friends. He similarly mended fences with Takei, but apparently their relationship soured again when Shatner did not receive an invitation to Takei's wedding (Takei insists that he sent an invitation to Shatner).

In more recent years, Shatner has redeemed himself somewhat by developing a sense of humor, mostly about himself, and becoming a new model of Self-Deprecation. This has included playing a ludicrous version of himself in the film Free Enterprise and parodying his "musical" stylings in a series of commercials and a new, well-received recording with Ben Folds (Has Been). He also appears in the videos for the Brad Paisley songs "Online" ("What? I can't sing?") and "Celebrity" ("I liked the end of the song. No, the end, when you stopped singing. I liked that part").

Not to mention his famed "Get a Life" sketch on Saturday Night Live, wherein he berated Trek fans for living in their parents' basement; this later became the title of his 1999 autobiography, in which he self-deprecatingly admits he didn't give Trek fans enough credit. He has since been known to show up at conventions in Klingon guise, confirming that, decades later, he is finally one of us. Since then, he's joined Reddit (username "williamshatner"), where he refuses to be treated as a celebrity.

Shatner has developed a moderately successful reputation as a writer, starting with two autobiographies about his time with Star Trek that may have started his redemption; in the books, he faithfully recounts the brutal interviews he held with his former co-stars who, one after another, lambasted him for being such an overbearing jerk, and admits to being humbled by the experience. He also got first billing on several Star Trek novels (known as the "Shatnerverse" as it apparently has its own continuity separate from that of other Trek novels) that were actually largely authored by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, though the later books of the series have more of Shatner's influence—and it shows. In these books, Kirk comes Back from the Dead and becomes even more of a Marty Stu. Kirk was also a Marty Stu in the Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which opens with an obvious stunt double climbing El Capitan and ends with him fighting God (or at least an alien impostor with nifty powers). The success of the Shatnerverse novels inspired him to create the non-TrekTek War series as with co-author Ron Goulart and finally strike out on his own with the Quest For Tomorrow series. His latest book is an autobiography titled Up Till Now, which is Actually Pretty Funny, partly because he spends a great deal of it mischievously poking fun at himself, but mostly because Shatner is actually an extremely good (and funny) non-fiction writer.

Before Star Trek, Shatner appeared in a supporting role in the widely acclaimed film Judgment at Nuremberg, and was also that guy that saw something on the wing. Shatner also starred as a cop in T.J. Hooker, and was one of the core cast of Boston Legal, winning an Emmy for his role as the bombastic, possibly insane Denny Crane. He has also dabbled in Reality TV, hosting Rescue 911 and the UPN version of Iron Chef. His popular Tek War novels were adapted into a short-lived series and a video game, in both of which he played a supporting role. On the A&E Channel in 2008, he began Shatner's Raw Nerve, an intimate interview show (no studio audience) where he talks with guest much like a news interview but done in a much more casual and friendly setting. In fall 2010, he starred as the title father in the CBS Dom Com$#*! My Dad Says, which only lasted one season.

Shatner also happens to be an expert equestrian, and has been breeding and showing horses for years; namely, American Quarter Horses in reining competitions and Saddlebreds in their breed classes. Incidentally, the horse he rode in Star Trek: Generations was his own Saddlebred mare, Great Belles of Fire. He also breeds Dobermans.

For a quick primer on how do a passable William Shatner impersonation, simply emphasize the first noun, then say the rest of the sentence as rapidly as possible:

"YOOOOUUUU . . . can'tjustletthemalldie!"

Alternately, insert pauses at all conceivable (and a few inconceivable) opportunities:

The first, more accurate example of a Shatner impression was a result of how scripts tended to be delivered on the show... revised, often, and late. He basically said that the pauses sometimes came from struggling to remember a line he might have been given ten minutes ago and certainly hadn't rehearsed, and the rush came from making sure it would still fit into the allotted camera time. He also claims that the overall hamminess was because he really wanted the show to succeed, and so he "put everything! I! had! ... intotherole.")

Back in his theater days, he was tapped at the last second to play a major role in Julius Caesar. He spent most of the time trying desperately to remember his lines and not screw up... and woke up to critical praise for his "brilliant reinvention of Shakespeare." Hey, if it ain't broke....

Again in theater, he would playing to a small audience and when some of the few people remaining got up to leave, he so desperately wanted them to stay he would play up the lines in a unique way to catch their attention. And it worked, people were so caught off-guard by it they would sit back down expecting something big to happen.

There is also a book called Shatnerquake, in which all of Shatner's characters come into our world to destroy the original.

Shatner has now created a new social networking site for arts patrons called myouterspace.com, which draws much influence from Star Trek and is laid out in a way not too different from a sci-fi RPG.

In 2010, there was a movement about to have him appointed the next Governor-General of Canada. For those who don't know, the Governor-General is the Queen's representative in Ottawa, and one of his/her most important jobs is to deliver the "Throne Speech," which is a speech outlining the government's intended plans for the next year. It'd be worth it just to hear him read it. Alas, the government chose a far more appropriate candidate, but no doubt everyone will try again the next time a new viceroy is to be appointed; this will not happen until 2017, as although governors-general are usually appointed every five years, there's no official term length, and because of the risk that the 2015 election would result in a hung parliament, the 2010 selectee agreed to stay on two extra years to manage the potential instability. As it happens, the 2015 election resulted in a solid Liberal majority, so who knows....

In May 2010, The Daily Telegraph reported that, when Shatner began doing ads for travel website Priceline.com in 1997, he took payment partially in stock. Since the company was young and unproven (having been founded earlier that year), the stock wasn't worth much, and it bottomed out at $1.80/share during the dot-com bust in 2000. It recovered, however, and was eventually worth about US $600,000,000. However, in an April 2012 appearance on Conan, Shatner revealed he never made any money from the stock. Basically, everyone who took a stock payment had to sign a waiver agreeing not to sell the stock for 18 months, which was when its value soared. By the time the waiver expired, the stock was back down to almost nothing, and Shatner (along with most of the other shareholders) sold it. Then it went back up.

As of June 2, 2011, he is now Doctor William Shatner, having received an honorary doctorate from McGill University, his alma mater. In other words, he's a doctor, not a starship captain!

Chewing the Scenery: Shatner's acting is actually a very good barometer for judging the quality of an episode of Star Trek. It's no coincidence that in all the really good episodes, Kirk is either remarkably calm ("The Corbomite Maneuver," "The City on the Edge of Forever") or he has a double through whom Shatner can channel his urge to overact (see "The Enemy Within," or that one scene in "Mirror, Mirror"). Or it's a comedy episode, in which case Kirk is deliberately overacting ("A Piece of the Action"). Gotta give the guy credit... how many other actors can claim four hit series? (Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Rescue 911, and Boston Legal). And while people are quick to remember the "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!" momentnote and people are quick to forget that Kirk was quite probably hamming it up for Khan's benefit; Kirk knew that Spock would bring the Enterprise around to save them in short order, but Khan didn't, reviewers have often praised Shatner's performance in the second movie, particularly for the grief Kirk displays over Spock's death; a scene Shatner actually conceived himself. In fact, in all of Shatner's Star Trek work, his best acting moments are those centering around Spock (but he also does very well opposite McCoy). Star Trek II writer-director Nicholas Meyer has said that he intentionally ran Shatner through repeated takes of each scene until he got tired and stopped overacting.

Dodgy Toupee: It's well known that Shatner wears a hair piece, although he is reluctant to outright admit it, and part of the fun of watching his performances is to try and catch the underlying weave or the tell-tale lifting of the sides.

Shatner: While talking to Patrick about his dedication to the craft, it came to me suddenly that during the filming of the series, I'd basically been a lazy bum, turning in hack performances for an easy paycheck. I'd been doing them a complete disservice to the other actors. Unfortunately, it was too late to apologize to James Doohan or DeForest Kelley, but I did get a chance to apologize to Leonard before he died. The magnanimous son-of-a-bitch forgave me.

Kayfabe: On his Twitter feed, Shatner routinely talks to NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). Not only do they share information on what missions they are conducting, they address him as "Captain".

Large Ham: Some say he is, in fact, the most defining example in American television. He even adorns the page image.

Nice Character, Mean Actor: In one of the more famous instances of this trope, he developed a reputation for this during the original Star Trek series. Since then, he has taken steps to reconcile with those he offended and by all accounts has ceased throwing around the ego he had in his youth.

Shakespearian Actor: Seriously, he performed both on TV and in Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival, one of the classiest theater venues in the nation. Like with Avery Brooks, the years of reciting the Bard's lines in their specific cadences is thought to have played a large part in his Star Trek-era acting style.

He once claimed in Get a Life! that he developed the style when acting in some minor theater, to keep the audience awake.

Your Costume Needs Work: According to Get a Life!, he was once told that his Captain Kirk was inferior to that of Kevin Pollack. By his daughter. The next time he saw Pollack, he got some tips from him.

This is not an uncommon speech pattern in Canada, where the short "a" (not to be confused with "eh") sound often appears where the rest of the English-speaking world uses the broad "a" sound. For example, "pasta" may be pronounced "passed-a." Also, every time Kirk says "Nazi" in "Patterns of Force."

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